Ah yes. Star Wars. Since the year 1977, this has been the one franchise etched into the collective conscious of boys and girls, grown up to be enthusiastic me and women who hold this single sprawling epic as one of the great standard bearers of theatrical science fiction. Much like Star Trek and Mobile Suit Gundam, when a new entry is presented into this expansive franchise, many people take notice of the story and the toys that go along with it. So we come to Star Wars The Last Jedi, which continues the story of a group of heroes fighting against tyranny in various ways.
The Last Jedi follows up on the events depicted in the prior entry The Force Awakens. Following that film we see that the New Republic has indeed been reduced to a Rebellion of several ships and several hundred fighters in the wake of the devastating attack by The First Order’s Starkiller Base. General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) leads a powerful fleet of Star Destroyers and Dreadnoughts in pursuit of the Rebels. Daredevil X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) leads a reckless mission to stave off the order, somewhat to the chagrin of General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). In the midst of all this, stormtrooper turned her Finn (John Boyega) wakes up from his prior injuries and wonders where his friend Rey is…
Rey (Daisy Ridley) has taken her newly found abilities with The Force along with Chewbacca and R2-D2 to find the only known jedi master left: Luke Skywalker, who gives her a rather unexpected reaction to seeing her with his lightsaber, long lost in Bespin’s Cloud City. Meanwhile, aboard The First Order’s flagship, Sith apprentice Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) faces his displeased master Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) who’s a little miffed that the grandson of the great Darth Vader can’t handle an untrained Force-user.
All these elements which have spun out of the events of The Force Awakens are developed in great detail over the film’s 2.5 hour running time. For the most part, the direction and screenplay by Rian Johnson (Looper) works. We get to see Finn go off on his own adventure to save the Rebellion after he makes a new friend named Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) and looks to overcome the fears he felt in the last film. We also get to see Poe’s immense and possibly foolish heroic nature come into conflict with General Leia’s experienced resolve as he’s given more of a fleshed out personality here. Kylo’s obsession with Rey takes an interesting turn.
Speaking of her though the film honestly works best with Rey’s inevitable training to become a Jedi, while she draws the legendary Luke out of the wall he’s built around himself. Much has happened to each of them in their dealings with The Force and in many ways they help each other. The high point of this film though is seeing Mark Hamill in this outing. He honestly gives his best performance ever as the famous hero. Learning why he has become the way he is while seeing him reunite with old friends (especially the late Carrie Fisher in her final appearances) makes for excellent cinema throughout the film. Yes the movie is decent when he’s not there, but Luke’s story is something very special here as he’s slowly brought back into the fold and runs through a full gamut of emotions, starting with the news of Han Solo’s demise.
If I were asked to rank it out of the 9 films to date, I’d probably place it at no. 3… with Empire and New Hope above it and Rogue One just below. I enjoyed the film a good deal as we got new heroes, new stories and new technologies to take in. The Last Jedi is a really emotional, multi-generational work. It delivers better at some points than it does others, and to be honest there were aspects of the story I was really hoping to get but apparently will not from this movie. Nevertheless, I found myself satisfied with the end results. The events here are worthy of discussion and speculation of deeper meaning overall. I am very much looking forward to the final installment of this Star Wars trilogy.
Grade: A